March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese stock futures and
Australian equities rose after U.S. home prices climbed the most
since 2006 and orders for U.S. durable goods beat estimates,
boosting earnings prospects for Asian exporters.

Gains in Japanese shares may be limited as 79 percent of
the companies in the Topix Index go ex-dividend today, meaning
investors who buy the shares today won’t get a dividend.
American depositary receipts of Mizuho Financial Group Inc.,
Japan’s third-largest bank by market value, slid 1.4 percent
from the Tokyo close, before going ex-dividend today. BHP
Billiton Ltd., Australia’s biggest oil and gas producer, rose
0.9 percent in Sydney as crude advanced.

Futures on Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average expiring in
June closed at 12,470 in Chicago yesterday, up from 12,370 in
Osaka, Japan. They were bid in the pre-market at 12,470 in
Osaka, at 8:05 a.m. local time. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index
gained 0.2 percent today. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index advanced
0.6 percent in Wellington.

“Average U.S. investors feel more secure about their jobs,
seeing their house prices go up, and think the crisis is well
behind them,” said Andrew Pease, Sydney-based chief investment
strategist at Russell Investment Group, which manages about $160
billion. “We like emerging markets and Asia simply because,
even though there’s concern about Chinese policy tightening,
earnings numbers still look good.”

U.S. Housing

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.1
percent today. The index rose 0.8 percent in New York yesterday,
as residential real estate prices increased in January by the
most since June 2006, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index.
Orders for U.S. durable goods climbed more than forecast in
February, propelled by automobiles and a rebound in commercial
aircraft, a Commerce Department report showed.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 4.8 percent this year
through yesterday on improving economic data from the U.S. and
speculation that Japan will deploy more stimulus. The Asian
benchmark traded at 15 times estimated earnings on average,
compared with 14.2 times for the S&P 500 and 12.6 times for the
Stoxx Europe 600 Index.

West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery rose $1.53,
or 1.6 percent, to $96.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile
Exchange, the biggest rally since Dec. 26 and the highest
settlement since Feb. 19.

The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index of the most-traded
Chinese companies in the U.S. gained 0.6 percent to a two-week
high of 92.66 yesterday.